


Doubt

by isthisgospel (ActonFTW)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Prediction Fic, Spoilers, is any of this right? well, we'll find out tomorrow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 13:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10190564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActonFTW/pseuds/isthisgospel
Summary: I was trying to write a prediction fic before the next episode comes out but I kind of ran out of time so here's a rough, unbeta'd little Ango reflection.Update: Travis helpfully reminded me that the security guards were kidnapped and pocket workshopped and destroyed by chimaera so yeah. Told you it was unbeta'd.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to the McElroys, who have inspired me to create even when I'm horribly depressed and anxious.

Angus was no fool. After waving his good friends and mentors off on their latest Reclaiming mission, he heard the alarms go off in the cell block area of the Bureau’s base. It was almost too obvious--if it had been in a Caleb Cleveland book, he would have scoffed at the bad writing. He ran towards the alarms, slipping easily between the legs of the taller Bureau members. Angus arrived at the scene seconds after the Director did.  
The two security officers standing guard over the elevator were on the ground, dizzily trying to sit up. The Director’s hands were tightly clasped behind her back, shoulders square, but when she turned to face him he could see that her jaw was clenched.  
“Angus?” she prompted, tilting her head towards the guards.  
He swallowed and stepped forward, turning to the guard on the left first. “Hello, sir, are you alright?” he asked, crouching down and checking his pupils for signs of a concussion.  
“Why am I on the ground?” the guard said, looking around.  
“That’s what I’m trying to find out, sir,” Angus replied softly, even though the sinking feeling in his chest was the biggest clue of them all. “Do you know who knocked you unconscious?”  
He shrugged, eyes still trying to focus. “I don’t know, some big guy.”  
The other guard was much more alert. “It was that Reclaimer, Magnus.”  
Angus winced and stood back up, looking up at the Director. Her face was blank, except for the clenched jaw. Two more guards ran up.  
“Relieve these men,” she instructed. “Angus, come with me.”  
The boy detective fought to keep his heart rate steady as he followed the Director to her office. The Bureau was buzzing, but the crowd parted for the Director’s tall form wherever she stepped. Angus followed behind her with tightly clenched fists and slouched shoulders. Davenport opened the door, and at a dismissing wave from the Director, shut it quietly behind them.  
“Sit,” the Director instructed, sweeping around her desk and standing behind it, staring up at the portrait of herself. Angus did as instructed.  
“Madam Director,” he began, but she held up a hand. Angus fell silent and ducked his head.  
She was quiet and still for a long moment. She breathed deeply, and when she turned around to face Angus, her eyes were burning.  
“Magnus no longer trusts me,” she said, eyes trained on Angus. “Merle certainly does, and Taako trusts me as much as he trusts anybody. But they both have known Magnus much longer than they know me, and they would take his word over mine any day of the week.  
“If he no longer trusts me, he will convince the others not to trust me, and we will lose some of the most capable and powerful and good people who have ever worked for us. If we don’t have Reclaimers, we are lost.”  
Angus folded his hands in his lap and broke eye contact with her. “What do you want me to do?” he asked around the lump in his throat.  
“Monitor their Stones of Far Speech,” she said, pacing around the room. “Wonderland will probably block their communication but I want you to listen carefully for them the entire time they’re gone, and let me know if they say anything about me, the Bureau, or men in red robes.”  
“O-of course, Madam Director!” he squeaked out. “I’ll go do that right now!”  
He stood quickly, gave the Director an awkward wave and a big, cheesy grin, and sprinted out of the room at full throttle. The quad was buzzing, the busiest it had been in the entire time Angus had been with the Bureau. He tried darting around and between the legs of the larger employees but was stopped by a scaly hand.  
“Woah there, kiddo,” Carey said, crouching down to his level. “What's the rush?”  
Angus felt like he was going to vibrate out of his skin. “I-I'm fine,” he said. “Just heading back to my room!”  
“That's horseshit,” a raspy voice chimed in. He flinched and saw Killian standing behind him with her arms crossed.  
The moonbase suddenly felt claustrophobic. Angus loved having these friends and coworkers most days, but when the gears in his head were churning out conclusions faster than he could process them, he just wanted to be alone. He could feel the anxiety buzzing in his teeth as he struggled to catch his breath.  
Carey and Killian exchanged a loaded glance, before the orc lifted Angus up and put him on her shoulders.  
“C’mon, Angus,” she murmured, and set off walking through the crowd on the quad. Carey stuck close by the two of them, waving off the concerned glances of some of their peers.  
Angus buried his face in the back of Killian’s head, trying to steady his breathing and come up with something to tell his friends. Lying was bad and hard and made him feel so very guilty, but he knew it was necessary. The hard part was knowing when lying was necessary.  
Angus had been operating on the assumption that the Bureau of Balance was a force of good, working to destroy the Grand Relics and save the world. But he also knew firsthand that Magnus Burnsides was a deeply moral man who knew exactly what was right and was entirely willing to sacrifice his life for the greater good. If the trusting, friendly fighter was doubting the Director and, by extension, the Bureau, then Angus was starting to have doubts of his own.  
The detective felt himself being let down from Killian’s broad shoulders, and opened his eyes to see the Voidfish’s tank. The sight was grounding, and he turned to look at his friends. At some point during the trip here, No-3113 had joined them. She waved hello.  
“Anything you want to discuss?” Carey asked pointedly.  
Angus shook his head. “Not yet,” he said quietly, opening his hand to look at his Stone of Far Speech. “Soon. But I need a minute first.”  
The three women gave him soft looks as he sat down and leaned his body against the tank. Carey was the first to flop down next to him, laying on her belly and pulling out a small carving tool and a block of cheap wood. No-3113 settled down next to him and took his empty hand into one of her own. Killian rocked on her heels.  
“I'll make sure no one disturbs us,” she said, before retreating to the door to stand watch.  
The buzzing from earlier had almost entirely faded from Angus, leaving his mind clear and ready. Angus had believed that the Director was good and working toward the safety of the planet. But what if she weren't? How could she have hidden her intentions? The detective had to admit the biggest red flag was the ceremonial destruction of the Grand Relics. No one knew exactly how the Relics were destroyed, just that they entered the chamber and the Director tapped her staff and a ball of light consumed the Relics. But that could easily be a spell to hide the Relics for future use.  
But Magnus wouldn't abandon the Director just because her Relic destruction method was a little bit suspicious. He was a more concrete man, one who needed physical evidence. He had to have some sort of proof, or just enough knowledge that no one else had.  
One possibility was the proof had something to do with the men in the red robes. Angus had pieced together a little information on them from fractions of conversations and an inordinate amount of eavesdropping. They were a group who apparently created the Relics and were very dangerous. Magnus, Taako, and Merle had encountered them a few times, but only discussed the encounters very late at night in their private quarters in hushed voices. Angus could only assume that Magnus had had an encounter with one of the Red Robes that made him believe that they weren’t evil like the Director said.  
The only other tell of some sort of extra knowledge that Magnus might have was the way he acted after coming back from their last mission. Taako and Merle had been normal, bragging about their daring escapes from giant worms and the rest of their heroic feats while rescuing the town of Refuge, but Magnus had been quiet. Anytime anyone would bring up the town, a little furrow would appear between his brows and he would be distracted from the conversation, making occasional noises of agreement and giving generic prompts to his friends to keep the story going without any actual input. And once, when leaving magic lessons with Taako, Angus saw Magnus sitting in his room, staring at a piece of paper, with a look of anguish on his face.  
Angus turned to face the Voidfish, pressing both hands against the tank. There wasn’t any concrete evidence. His mind was jumping to all sorts of conclusions that he couldn’t prove, but his gut was telling him to follow the simple logic.  
Magnus didn’t trust the the Director. Angus trusted Magnus. The conclusion was sitting right there in front of him. He didn’t need to justify with far-fetched theories or cobbled-together evidence.  
The detective stood, looking at his friends for a moment. Carey, carving what appeared to be an exquisite duck butt with a smiley face instead of a head. No-3113, whirring softly and tapping her fingers against the ground. Killian, standing by the elevator with her arms crossed, eyes trained on the three of them. Angus swallowed, and turned back to the Voidfish, and prayed he was making the right decision.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so this is my prediction fic. It's shitty and short and unbeta'd but I wanted proof in case any of my predictions turn out to be right. My predictions are, by the way, mainly that Lucretia is lawful evil as fuck, and that the BoB are going to turn against the THB but that Angus won't betray them and hopefully Carey, Killian, and No-3113 won't betray them either. Also Garfield the Deals Warlock has been growing Magnus a body this entire time.
> 
> Update: I told y'all about the Garfield thing.


End file.
